Juno (2007)

This relatively small movie has turned out to be the American sleeper hit of the winter and has even more amazingly been nominated for four Oscars: best film, best director, best actress, and best original screenplay.  Let me tell you immediately that it is unlikely to win best film despite being a totally entertaining movie and I am a little dubious of awarding an Oscar to a young director for only his second film (Jason Reitman, son of Ghostbuster).  However the acting nod to barely known 20-year old Ellen Page and to screenwriter Diablo Cody for her first script are probably well-warranted, since both are remarkable.

Page plays a 16-year old high school junior who finds herself pregnant after some good-natured exploratory sex with her "best friend" Michael Cera -- two outsider nerds that are painted as real people.  She can't face the thought of an abortion when a picketing teenager points out that the foetus 'has fingernails' and finds a local couple from a free-listing paper who are eager to adopt.  The couple are played by an ever-so-needy Jennifer Garner and her would-be rocker husband Jason Bateman, who we discover have their own reality problems.  There are also two wonderful turns from J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney as Juno's dad and supportive stepmother.  All of the characters are so engaging in their own ways and Page's Juno in particular so rounded that one watches yet another movie about teenaged pregnancy with complete absorption.

Much of this is due to the very sharp screenplay from erstwhile lapdancer and improbably-named Diablo Cody, but her real name Brook Busey seems equally unlikely.  She is either a major new talent or someone who has struck lucky without even trying, but her dialogue sparkles with wit and intelligence.  In the end not much has changed, but we have come to know and in Juno's case love some very ordinary yet remarkable folk.

Tags: Juno, sleeper hit, Ellen Page, Diablo Cody